[CentOS] random roundoff?

Todd Rinaldo toddr at cpanel.net
Tue Apr 26 15:19:08 UTC 2011


On Apr 23, 2011, at 9:54 PM, Michael D. Berger wrote:

> On my CentOS 5 box, in a C++ program that does much arithmetic,
> including numerous matrix multiplications, I have a situation in
> in which the result depends on the nature of nearby I/O.  Thus,
> with all arithmetic done with type double, and where values
> are mostly in the range [-1.0e0,+1.0e0]  or nearby, I do:
> 
>   cerr << "some stuff" << endl;
>   mat3 = matmult(mat1,mat2);
> 
> I get a difference of the order 1.0e-15 depending on whether the
> cerr line does or does not end in "endl" as shown.
> 
> I am imagining that there is some "randomness" in the roundoff
> that depends on the I/O situation.  Is this credible?  Any other
> suggestions?
> 
> Thanks for your help,
> Mike.

Mike, I think I'm understanding your problem. This just sounds like a floating point rounding issue.

You've read the floating point bible already?
http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E19957-01/806-3568/ncg_goldberg.html

Todd
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